Tag Archives: Get Smarter about Money

Building on the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand word, in this edition of Best from the Blogosphere we direct you to video channels and specific personal finance videos you may want to follow regularly.

First of all, keep an eye on the series of videos from Saskatchewan Pension Plan, and in particular this one, which clarifies issues raised in a recent quiz posted on savewithspp.com. Other video blogs discuss how to become a member of SPP, how to start a company plan with SPP and why fees matter to your investments.

Only buying a house is a bigger financial commitment than buying a car. The message in this humorous Get Smarter About Money video blog is that you have to look at the cost of ownership from operating costs, insurance, maintenance and financing to understand the big picture.

And last but not least, Bridget Eastgaard from Money After Graduation discusses two ways to pay off debt in The Debt Avalanche vs The Debt Snowball. Find out which is the best approach for you!
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Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.

You’ve been diligently socking away money in a Registered Educational Savings Plan (RESP) since your child was a toddler and in a few short weeks she starts university. Getting at the money can be a little more complicated than simply taking out money from your savings account. To help you through the process, this week we feature articles and blogs exploring all things relating to RESP withdrawals.

Mike Holman on Money Smarts discusses RESP withdrawal Rules and Strategies for 2015. He says there is one withdrawal rule to get out of the way – you are only allowed to take out $5,000 of accumulated income in the first 13 weeks. After 13 weeks, you can withdraw as much accumulated income (including educational assistance payments) as you wish. However, there are no limits to withdrawals from the contribution portion as long as your child is attending school.

Bankrate.com blogger Jasmine Miller also writes about How to cash out your RESP. Because the government stipulates that financial institutions must follow “due diligence” to ensure RESP funds are being used for a child’s education your bank may want to see a copy of your child’s acceptance letter before releasing funds or they may take you at your word. Therefore she says it’s a good idea to keep all documentation and receipts.

The Investing for Me blog Withdrawals from RESPs notes that RESP withdrawals can generally be made to cover tuition, room and board, school supplies, computers and transportation as these are all eligible educational expenses under the Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) criteria. However, guidelines for withdrawals from a Group RESP account are governed by the plan’s contract or prospectus and group plans may have more restrictions than family or individual plans.

But what if your child doesn’t continue her education? Get Smarter About Money explains that if your child doesn’t continue her education after high school, there may be financial costs and tax consequences. But you have these four available options:

Keep the RESP open – your child may decide to continue her studies later,

In Need to use an RESP this fall? Back to school starts now, Rob Carrick covers some of the same territory as the blogs noted above. However, he says one more consideration in filling out the RESP withdrawal form is where you want the money to go. You can have it sent to your chequing account, or your child’s account. He has the money from his son’s RESP paid into his and his wife’s joint account, and then he pays tuition and residence bills via Interac online.

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information with us on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.

By now we have all taken the leap from the old year to the new, but during the transition, some of our favourite bloggers analyzed the year gone by and offered suggestions for the days and months ahead.

In 2014, Mark Seed at My Own Advisor made some financial predictions. In 2014 Financial Predictions Final Update he revisits these predictions as compared to how things actually played out. He forecasted that the Dow Jones Industrial Average would finish the year at 16,700 but in fact it rose to 17,823.07. He also suggested that the Canadian Dollar would end the year at $0.90 compared to the US Dollar but by December 31st it had dropped to $0.86. But he did correctly anticipate dividend increases from Fortis, Telus, Walmart and AT&T.

On Boomer and Echo, Robb Engen asks What Will It Take For You To Save More This Year? He suggests the 52-week money saving challenge that was all the rage in 2014. Save $1 in week one, $2 in week two, $3 in week three, and so on until you have about $1,400 saved by the end of the year. Or, increase the degree of difficulty and try to put away $10 in week one, $20 in week two, $30 in week three, and so on until you’ve saved nearly $14,000.

And finally, as part of the Masters of Money series on Get Smarter about Money, Rob Carrick asks Dividend stocks for retirement income – can you handle it? A well-chosen portfolio of dividend stocks can reasonably be expected to give you a far more generous annual cost of living increase than even an indexed pension, while also delivering solid long-term capital gains. But the bottom line is that they are still equities and if the bottom falls out of the stock market it could take your investment portfolio with it.

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information with us on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.